I believe that decorators around the world should have quick access to a dictionary so as not to misspell. Although...English, I assume, would be their native language (in most cases, right?) What's up with the lack of grammar across this nation?

It destroys my faith in humanity to think that people can spell so poorly. So, I'm going to chose to believe that some Yanks were ribbing Bri, the Scottish/Irish bride, about her accent. Who's with me? Anyone...?

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I've never worked in the field of cake decorating, though I watch Ace of Cakes, watch the food network challenges and visit this blog, so this is a real question.Question: How come they can't scrape off the icing or remove the fondant and redo the mistake? You can do that right? Is it simply because these yahoos just don't catch their mistakes? Just wondering, Thanks

Milton - I'd say the drinks are likely Jell-O shooters, and the 'worms' you're seeing are little candy limes. (The Jell-O shooter is a guess, who doesn't want booze on their 21st B-day cake?!) And the 'fish' bits, are supposed to be rosebuds, though very strangely placed...and apparantly floating.

I love the mithspelling cakes! Although while I'm laughing at the uneducated, I can feel the ire rising in me at the same time.

Okay, even if "bridal shower" had been spelled right...wth kind of message is that? Did they assume Bri wouldn't understand what kind of event she was attending and the cake message would be her first clue?

hee hee, I'm Heather F., and sent in the #2 Abby's Legal cake... it was on this lady's website of simply fantastic cakes and there it was streaming just as pretty as you please. I really hate that it was mispelled to, I mean too. HA! All of her cakes were really nice ones!! Oh well!! I'm NOT perfect by ANY stretch of the imaginashun.

DangGina, grammar isn't spelling. English has a difficult system of spelling, with many archaisms. Nevertheless, it would be nice if people whose spelling skills are poor would check before sending out work they're asking money for.

(Homophone typos in published books are my bugaboo.)

If you love language and good blogs, check out Language Log: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1314

Oy with the "world is ending because people can't spell" complaints, people! Spelling is a talent, not a skill, in my opinion- some can do it, some can't - it doesn't map to intelligence. Also, written language is meant to represent spoken language - both forms change.

I am seriously mourning that second cake. It's so gorgeous, that lettering is lovely. And then they have to go ruin it...Also, I'm agreeing with jello shots with limes, or perhaps lime margaritas as the "drinks."

For some reason, the little rose torpedoes made me lol on Lucy's Good cake. It's like the big white rose is the Mothership sending out her little minion roses to conquer the world or something....

I'm very confused about the Braidal SHoer. Why the random capitalized H? What does that even mean? Would Bri not know where she was? Perhaps her name is not Bri at all, but they were trying to spell Bride and just gave up... Which was probably the right thing to do in the end...

What exactly is a Braidal Shoer? Sounds like some kind of spine alignment thing.

I have to say that the Thunks cake is sad on more than one level; it has CRUNCHIES on it!!! I LOVE those delicious, sugary crunchy things, but could never consume it with the cigarette stubbed out on it. What a waste of crunchies!! I coulda looked past the spelling oopsie...:(

I appreciate that some people can't spell, and I'm one of those "naturally good spellers" as a general rule. I think the whole "world is ending" complaint is because people no longer take the same kind of pride in their work to make sure that it's done right the first time. My issue is this: If spelling is not your strong point, don't get into a career that relies heavily upon spelling, like professional writing, editing, advertising, and cake decorating. No one would willingly go into interior decorating if they were colorblind, would they?

Grammar* and spelling knowledge is a rare thing these days. I had positively WONDERFUL spelling as a child, however spellcheck has utterly ruined that for me. (People blame it for a reason. I get lazy. I don't try and spell correctly and I won't learn the correct spelling because instead of looking up the word and taking it to heart, I just right click and choose the word I want.)

I believe one of the better spelling attempts I've found is hour: hower.

* Grammar isn't taught in schools anymore, period. I came from a private school and the teachers hated teaching grammar. The students revolted as much as they could, so of course, the teachers hated to bring it up. So on essays, they'll mark what's wrong, etc, but they won't teach actual grammar in class. It was something you had to learn on your own (like how to read--and yes, even in private school people can barely read). If you read a lot, you'd get it. If you didn't, you had a problem.

The "thunks" cake is a Carvel ice cream cake. They are sold in most large supermarkets. I have seen some of the sheet type that say "Happy Birthday," however I am willing to bet that "thunks" was added after the fact. Fantastic blog btw!

@Ann Burlingham, no one is saying the world is ending because of poor spelling. The issue here is that the ability to spell properly would seem to be a necessary prerequisite of being a cake decorator. If you ordered a bridal shower cake and it said "Braidal SHoer," would you really want to pay for and then present that cake to your friend? I think not.

Yes, some teachers teach "inventive spelling" (as we call it) as a way to ease children into learning common spelling patterns and to just get them writing and not worrying about how things are spelled. HOWEVER, this is not the ONLY way that spelling is taught hopefully. At the beginning of the school year, I tell my kids to spell words as best they can using what they know about letters and sounds. As they progress through the year, and know more, I expect more. It's like expecting a baby to walk before crawling; crawling leads to walking so you can't skip the crawling step- it's important. But the baby won't crawl forever.

And I wouldn't say grammar isn't taught anymore. I teach grammar to my students because it's important and I don't want them speaking and writing improper English. Some teachers may not teach grammar, but you are supposed to as it's in the state content standards. And yes, most people who are better readers are better at communication skills because they are constantly seeing and reading words which carries over into other areas.

the "thunks" cake was a cake my family had gotten for my brother for veteran's day. and thats a candle not a cigarette haha. we told the cake decorator that we wanted it to say "thanks" and to have the american flag above that. we got "thunks" and what looked like a french flag. sadly, we tried to fix it before i remembered to take a picture so the "T" in "thunks" really looked like a "D". hope you all enjoy it!

Ann Burlingham said... Oy with the "world is ending because people can't spell" complaints, people! Spelling is a talent, not a skill, in my opinion- some can do it, some can't - it doesn't map to intelligence. Also, written language is meant to represent spoken language - both forms change.*********************Maybe it doesn't "map to intelligence," but in my opinion, it can "map" to laziness, or lack of appropriate teaching.What do you think dictionaries are for? I think correct spelling IS a skill. Of course language changes; that is one reason why dictionaries include popular "slang" words, over time. A person who is at least a high school graduate WILL come across as lazy or ignorant if he or she spells like a first-grader,especially when applying for a job, or to college. It's a real world out there. I believe that most of these misspellers are probably able to crack open a dictionary and learn to spell ANY word correctly.I'm an optimist.

"Thunks" is now my new favorite cake wreak. I had to show it to my Mother who says "Jhunks? Like you have so much junk in your trunk from eating that cake it becomes Jhunks in your chunky trunks?" Now it is even BETTER!

Wow, the T in 'Thunks' really does look like it's been changed. I thought it looked like it used to be a D, which would make the cake say "Drunks". And then you confirm it looked like a D! with a French flag? Is this some kind of social commentary? Crazy.

In defense of "good-by" -- the popular kids' book "Go, Dog, Go!" has a series of interactions between a boy and girl dog, regarding the attractiveness of the girl dog's hats, and at the end of every conversation they both say "Good-by" to each other. Perhaps that cake decorator was just raised on a classic of children's literature. :)

#4 looks like the culinary students were practicing and someone accidentally put the plaque in with the ones that are supposed to go on the cakes, and then the high school student who works in the afternoon blew it majorly!

And I agree with Nathalie, 'good-by' is fine, it's just the used tissues they piped onto the cake that I'm concerned with.

Ann Burlingham said... Oy with the "world is ending because people can't spell" complaints, people! Spelling is a talent, not a skill, in my opinion-some can do it, some can't - it doesn't map to intelligence. Also, written language is meant to represent spoken language - both forms change.

I agree that correct spelling (or the lack of it) is not automatically a indictor of intelligence but poor spelling and grammar come across as ignorant and/or careless, particularly in a professional capacity.

I am not a natural speller - it is something I find difficult, especially if I am writing by hand as opposed to typing, but I *know* that I don't spell well, so I have made the effort to learn the correct spelling of words whcih I need regularly, and when I am writing something important (business letters, notices etc) I take the time and trouble to check spellings where necessary.

Spellign is much easier for some people than others, but (for almost everyone)it can be learned, and incorrect spelling, whetehr on a 'professional' cake or in a business communication, looks sloppy, and implies ignorance or carelessness or both.

I don't think the world is coming to an end, and of course spelling and use of words both change over time, but if someone has ordered and paid for a cake they have a reasonable expectation that it will be in line with the generally accepted correct spelling.

If you order a professional prduct, you expect it to be produced professionally.

Oh my giddy aunt. I think that the Braidal Shoer may come up next to "It a gril" in my list of favorites.

And for Ann: no the world isn't coming to an end because of bad spelling. But there is a reasonable expectation that cake decorators should be able to spell the rather limited amount of words that they use. And they should be able to deal with appropriate capitalization as well. It's only a courtesy to the people that they're working for. If these were cakes lovingly prepared by a friend or family member, it would be sweet and funny and not an issue. But if you have to pay for something it should be professional. And part of being professional is doing something right--and in a manner that the people who ordered the cake can actually understand what is written there.

And it's not like we're talking about a huge lexicon here; congratulations, bridal shower, it's a girl, you're legal now. That isn't asking a great deal. Especially if it's been paid for.

And if somebody, somewhere has figured out what Falker Satherhood is, please let us all know.

You all just don't understand... The "Grat Year" is not a misspelling. It's a cake celebrating the awesomeness of Squall's heiny-whooping of the Grats in Balamb Garden's Training Area. Sheesh. He was having a >Grat< year and was able to gain some mad skillz and stuff.

Okay, is it me, or does the s on "Thunks" look like some wrongly small capital Q, I mean, I know that it's in cursive, and that it is fairly hard to write with frosting, but that's what I thought it was at first.

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